League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Alameda County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
	Karen (Johnson) Hemphill Answers Questions Candidate for School Director; Berkeley Unified School District

The questions were prepared by the LWV Berkeley/Albany/Emeryville and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. The new Local Control Funding Formula moved many decisions about allocating funding from the state to the local school boards; how well has the District followed the spirit of the Formula in identifying what our children need? Would you change anything in the process of developing the Local Control (LCAP) budget for next year?

Given the short period of time that the State gave to School Districts to develop the first LCAP, I believe we did a phenomenal job that in fact has been called a state model. Our LCAP (28 drafts!) used multiple community meetings, focus groups, on-line/paper surveys, as well as several Board meetings to really obtain parent and community input - not just meet LCAP "participation" requirements. The end result was a LCAP that really was a collaboration of the professional knowledge of our teachers and staff and the practical experience and wisdom of our parents and community.

In going forward, I believe we need to focus mainly on two issues: 1) starting the LCAP earlier than the first year State-mandated timelines to better coordinate how our school parcel tax, discretionary school site and other funds support/extend student learning/needs and 2)spend more time on critically evaluating what is working and what may not be working so we maximize our resources and ensure that we are using the best teaching and student support/intervention practices to meet our students' needs.

2. How well has the District done in introducing the Common Core standards and methods in classes K-12? What improvements would you recommend or do you anticipate for the coming year?

Our District immediately began establishing professional learning communities of teachers, administrators, and staff to identify curriculum, best practices, and needed professional development to establish Common Core in our schools. This has resulted in changes in our math program with students being better prepared in the foundations of higher mathematics as well as changes in our literacy/writing program to emphasize critical thinking, analytical writing,and the integral way that literacy supports math/science achievement. The biggest challenge is that the available Common Core curriculum is not fully ready for real classrooms and are really still just "lab-tested", so our teachers are having to make adjustments as they are teaching, including having to self-translate course materials into Spanish for our dual immersion/bilingual classes. In addition, since Common Core is different than "traditional" classwork - in the next year, focus needs to continue on professional development for our teachers but also for other staff such as after-school, instructional assistants, and tutors as well as providing on-line as well as in person family workshops so parents are prepared to help their students learn.

3. Is early childhood education being well implemented in the District? What would you recommend in this area?

I have successfully advocated for supplementing State-provided funding for pre-school with School District funds in order to provide early childhood education to low income families. In addition, our District is fully implementing Transitional Kindergarten for students who turn 5 in September-early December to give additional time to mature and be ready academically for kindergarten success. Much research shows that pre-school is a major factor in later academic success and I firmly support State funding of Universal Pre-School taught by credentialed teachers.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. References to opponents are not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 8, 2014 09:38
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